Hundreds of Bay Area elementary school students will descend on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach today to clean it up and raise awareness about protecting sea life in anticipation of World Oceans Day next month.
As many as 700 students from six San Francisco, Oakland and Marin County schools will clean the city’s coastline as part of the 19th annual Kids’ Ocean Day Adopt-a-Beach Cleanup, California Coastal Commission spokeswoman Sylvie Lee said.
The event is sponsored by the commission and the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary. The cleanup was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. across from the Beach Chalet restaurant.
A number of other groups are cleaning California beaches in the coming weeks to gear up for World Oceans Day on June 8, a day that highlights the importance of the ocean and the ways in which human activities affect it.
As part of today’s cleanup, the school group will form a human design depicting an osprey and they will also line up in the shape of a giant shield and spell out the message, “Defend the sea.”
An aerial photograph will be taken of the group at 12:15 p.m.
Schools participating include San Francisco’s Sunset and Ulloa elementary schools; Oakland’s Santa Fe Elementary School; and Marin County’s Bahia Vista and Edna Maguire elementary schools and Willow Creek Academy.
Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary is a nonprofit environmental education organization based in Tiburon.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
